Wooddale lands ACEs in the classroom

Taneka Daniels, 17, a senior at Wooddale High School, concentrates on a flight simulator of a Blue Angel F/A-18 Hornet during a dedication ceremony Tuesday for Wooddale’s National Flight Academy Aviation Classroom Experience program. FedEx and the Organization of Black Aviation Professionals helped create the state-of-the-art aviation lab.

Amid the hoopla of a ribbon-cutting in a new aviation classroom at Wooddale High School, Taneka Daniels, 17, kept a laser-like focus on the flight simulator in front of her.

She leaned back in her seat Tuesday and worked the controls of a Navy Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet cruising low over the Mid-South looking for a place to land.

"I actually want to fly and do aircraft maintenance," said Taneka, a senior who joined Wooddale's aviation program as a freshman.

A new flight training lab at the southeast Memphis school, outfitted with the help of FedEx Corp. and other supporters, will give students like her a leg up in achieving their sky-high aspirations, she said.

"It's going to give us more flying time, more experience," she said.

Wooddale has had an optional schools program in aviation, travel and tourism since 1995, complete with flight simulators, but the new National Flight Academy Aviation Classroom Experience takes the program to new heights, officials said.

Shelby County Schools officials welcomed representatives of FedEx Express, the Organization of Black Airline Pilots and other supporters to a dedication ceremony capping two years of effort and an estimated $90,000 to $100,000 investment in the lab.

Wooddale joined an elite group of 14 high schools and middle schools using a video game-based technology provided by TEQ Games in Orlando, Fla.

The network of computers and flight simulators emulates the experience of flying planes off an aircraft carrier. Students build science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills as they work individually and collectively on situations such as rescuing stranded elephant calves from poachers in an African wildlife preserve or delivering aid to earthquake victims in Haiti.

Student Ana Rodriguez was first exposed to the technology while attending camps at the National Flight Academy at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla. She's excited that a similar experience is now available at Wooddale.

"To have this technology here, is just great. We'll have more students who will be able to have that experience," Ana said.

FedEx Express executive vice president of air operations James R. Parker said, "To every aviation student enrolled in this amazing program, your future is bright because of the world-class learning environment you are experiencing here at Wooddale. Now that this program has evolved to become part of the NFA's Aviation Classroom Experience, you have an even greater training opportunity at your fingertips in pursuit of an aviation career."

Parker said the industry is expected to need about 460,000 new pilots and 600,000 new aircraft maintenance technicians over the next 20 years.

Albert Glenn, a Boeing 777 captain for FedEx Express, said the Aviation Classroom Experience certification puts Wooddale among "the nation's elite high school-based aviation programs. It is a milestone accomplishment made possible by the dedication and collaboration of many people and organizations working together to lay the learning foundation for the next generation of aviation professionals." Along with FedEx and the black pilots' group, the program draws community support from Women in Aviation, Tuskegee Airmen and the Memphis Blackhawks, an organization of aircraft mechanics and aircraft owners.